A New Approch
by Crumpled
Summary: Naruto was living the life he'd always dreamed of... Hokage, a beautiful wife and a child on the way. Well, it WAS perfect until he was haphazardly tossed years into the past! Can he get home? Will he attempt to change the timeline? Time travel
1. Familiar Faces

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto-kun. Ahh well... My loss, Kishimoto's gain...

AN: This storyline has just been floating around in my head for a while. I hope you like it! :)

_**Chapter One: Familiar Faces**_

Naruto sucked in breath in shallow gulps as he rocketed off branches towards Konoha. _It was a trap. It was a trap. It was a trap_, he repeated in a mantra. _I should've known. What kind of Hokage am I to leave my village like that?_ He tipped his head up, watching the trees rush by, their colors blending into a monochromatic green tone.

_Forty more miles. I can make it._ Or so Naruto tried to convince himself. _My village is being attacked, and I'm not there!_ A tear crept out of the corner of his eye. It slipped off the side of the man's cheek, and splashed onto a tree.

Though he long ago realized Sasuke was a lost cause, he fully admitted to coming like a fly to honey when "Sasuke" had sent a letter challenging him to a duel. _Stupid, stupid, STUPID!_ Naruto knew it wouldn't do any good - Sasuke had been completely eaten by his hatred and ambition - but he hadn't broken a promise yet._And now my village is in trouble._ He shoved chakra haphazardly into his feet, causing the branch below (and now behind) him to break. Against his better judgment, Naruto lowered the chakra flow, slowing him down. He gritted his teeth.

He wouldn't allow himself to think of what may have happened in his village while he was gone trying to keep a eight-year-old promise to someone he wasn't even attached to anymore. _Who is dead? Who isn't? What if-_ but he wouldn't let himself get any further. Mourning before he knew the losses wouldn't help. _Twenty miles. I'm getting closer..._

But not close enough. He pressed on, counting the miles down in his head. He passed a tree with a rusty kunai sticking out. _Eighteen miles._ The Valley of the End. _Sixteen._ A long-abandoned house ruined in the war with Iwa. _Twelve_. Three recently-dug graves belonging to a trio of countrymen. _Nine._ A rock in the shape of Pakkun's head. _Seven_. The carved shape of a heart with "Takemaru and Kataka" written in it._Four. _A long-overgrown path covered in prickly brambles. _Two._

He didn't bother to look for landmarks anymore. They had been more of a distraction from his thoughts, anyways. He knew the woods surrounding Konoha like the back of his hand. He raised his nose and sniffed. His brow crinkled. Slight smoke, old smelling. Dried blood. Metal. He relaxed slightly.

Those smells were normal for a hidden village. He was about to continue when - Paper and Ink? He frowned, trying to figure out what was happening. He couldn't concentrate on the puzzling smell. His mind was too wrapped up with worries about his village. Suddenly, he was on full alert. Something was wrong here! Naruto skidded to a halt, but it was too late.

He whirled around just in time to see the psychotically grinning face of a Iwa headband wearing foe before everything went black.

...o0O0o...

_Drip. Drip. Drip. _

Naruto frowned to himself and turned over, trying to avoid the incessant sound.

_Drip. Drip. Drip. _

He moaned in annoyance and opened his eyes slowly. He was in an all to familiar sewer pipe. His eyes widened, and he leaped to his feet, grabbing a kunai. Nothing.

_Drip. Drip. Drip. _

Scratch that - nothing but a sound that will drive me crazy, he thought sarcastically. He kept the kunai in his hand as he walked purposefully down the maze-like passageways. It wouldn't do any good against Kyuubi, but years upon years of training had taken it's toll - making him extremely wary.

After about ten minutes - if time even passed there - he reached the thick bars of a cage. Where the doors of the gates met, there was a huge, intricately drawn seal. Surprisingly, Kyuubi didn't make an immediate appearance.

"Kyuubi!" He called loudly, staying well away from the cage. No answer. Well, it's not like he just decided to go for a walk. _He's gotta be here somewhere..._ Naruto pressed his palms together and closed his eyes, searching for the demon fox's easily recognizable chakra. Nothing.

_Drip. Drip. Drip. _

A wave of panic swept through him._Did he... escape?_ He thought with dread. _No - wait..._ he caused his chakra to looking more thoroughly, searching everywhere in the huge cage. Finally, he found the source of chakra he had sensed.

"Kyuubi?" He called incredulously. There was a growl from inside the cage. But unlike his normal growl, it was rather quiet. _What happened to him? _

_Drip. Drip. Drip. _

Finally, a voice came from inside the cage. "**This is all your fault!**" Naruto blinked. He had never heard something so... so... human come from the demon's mouth. "_**And that damned Fourth Hokage!**__**"**_ Naruto bristled.

"Don't insult my father!" He retorted. The growls increased.

"**I'm the King of Demons! I'll insult who I want to**." Naruto snorted.

"Some King of Demons you are. Sure you weren't mistaking it for 'King of Chibis'?"

"**SILENCE!**" Normally, Naruto's ears would've been ringing. But the fox's voice came barely louder than the average human's yell. Finally, the fox stepped into the light of the dirty lamps hanging on the stone walls. Kyuubi, King of Demons, Demolisher of Konoha, Fire Fox, etc - was currently about three feet tall. Naruto couldn't help but laugh. He really was a 'King of Chibis.' The sound echoed strangely in the room, never having been heard there before. The small fox's hackles raised, its shortened tails swirling.

**"****Don't laugh at me, weakling! I did this to save our lives! Some King you are - letting yourself get incapacitated by a lesser being like that. Bah**!" Naruto frowned, trying to remember what had happened. He remembered... Sasuke? No, it was later that that. Something about Akatsuki... Madara! He had been running home to help when... when what? What had happened? That last thing he remembered was an unrecognizable face and the smell of ink. _Seals!_ He realized in a flash.

"AARGH!" He yelled. Why hadn't he realized that? He had spent ages training with Ero-sennin, who always seemed to be either writing that pervy book of his, or working on seals. The man practically reeked of ink! 'The good shinobi is never blinded by emotions, and must remain in control and alert.' He, the Rokudaime Hokage, had failed at one of the most basic ninja rules! Even he had picked that up at the academy, and he was skipping class half the time! Finally, he realized the circumstances.

"K-Kyuubi?" He said shakily. The fox smiled toothily at the sound of fear in his voice. "What happened?" His smile dimmed slightly at the fact the Naruto wasn't afraid of him, but any fright was better than none.

_Drip. Drip. Drip._

"They are no longer as you remember them," the Demon Lord answered, obviously trying to scare his container. Naruto gulped, eyes wide and unblinking. He said nothing, asking with his eyes. Kyuubi said nothing, enjoying the fear-filled silence.

"Damn it, Kyuubi, what happened!" The Hokage finally burst out angrily. Kyuubi smiled widely.

"You'll just have to find out, won't you?" And once again, the world faded into black, leaving only the faint sound of dripping to echo in his mind.

...o0O0o...

The darkness was different this time. Instead of being unconscious, dead to the world, it was more like he just had his eyes closed. His whole body was wracked with pain, as if someone were stretching him from all his limbs. The skin on his face pressed back into his scull, as if he were somehow running at a thousand miles a second. It went on for at least fifteen minutes. The pain. The dark. Everything. Until suddenly, he seemed to be squeezing through a small hole, slowing down. Then, his world exploded in light.

He landed on his feet, kunai drawn. He blinked in confusion._Was that real?_ He asked himself._If so, what happened?_ Everything seems to be the same. Indeed, it was true. He was standing in the same place he had just seem the Iwa-nin before he had visited Kyuubi. He narrowed his eyes. Something was different... he didn't come to this section of Konoha much - it was rather isolated, containing only a few farms and some of the ruins said Demon Fox had left.

He looked down. He looked the same as usual. Same black shinobi-pants with white wrappings. A long, dark red shirt. His white robe emblazoned with "The Sixth" kanji on the back. The Shodai's necklace - won off Baa-chan. He felt his head. Same slightly shaggy hair falling over his Leaf hitai-ite on an unusually long, black piece of cloth. Everything seemed eerily similar. Too similar. He sniffed the air, and his eyes widened.

The smell was completely different. Now it wasn't so strange for the smell of a place to change. After a fight, it smelled of blood and metal. During the spring, flowers and water. But smells don't change that fast. For the smell of the small clearing he was standing in to have switched so dramatically, over three months would've have had to passed. He sniffed again. Instead of the unique paper-ink combo he had smelled before, now he smelled a multitude of things. Fire. Slight blood and wood. A light, floral perfume, mixed with the salty smell of tears. Ramen? His eyes widened. Impossible... he reached out with his chakra, something he regretted not doing the moment he had arrived. He really was having an off day, especially for a Hokage.

He chakra expanded from him, feeling his surroundings. The usual trees, bushes, small animals and... four all to familiar people. His eyes widened. He would recognize those four anywhere. But how could this be possible? In his shock (he really had to work on that) he moved a second too late as he shot up into the treetops.

"Stop!" A familiar, deep voice said. He had been spotted. He peeked between the leaves at the four figures standing beneath him. Sakura-chan. That was the easiest to comprehend. He couldn't see her very well, though. She looked shorter. Younger. Kakashi-sensei; looking unusually serious, scanning around him with his one visible eye. Then came the other two. His throat caught. Jiraiya. But he was dead! Nagato had killed him before Naruto had managed to end his attempt at what he believed to be peace! The old sage had his eyes closed, sensing for chakra. Naruto's chakra was hidden to the point of being nearly invisible, something he did automatically.

Then... _himself_. Or what he used to be, anyways.

The other Naruto was dressed in his old bright orange, white and blue jumpsuit, and was looking oblivious to any danger he might be in.

"Hey! Ero-sennin!" Young-Naruto practically yelled. The Rokudaime winced at the loud voice.

"Quiet, Naruto!" Jiraiya said commandingly. The orange-clad ninja fell silent, and began looking into the bushes with untrained eyes. The elder of the two held his breath, remaining soundless. There was silence for the next ten minutes, broken only by Naruto scuffling his feet and shifting his weight impatiently. Finally, Jiraiya relaxed.

"It's nothing. Let's go."

"Nothing! So we were just standing there for noth-" The younger (and significantly less strong, Naruto noticed) version of Sakura bopped him on the head with her fist, driving him knee-deep into the earth. _Knees!_ He scoffed inwardly. _Hah! I had almost forgotten there was a day when Sakura couldn't bury me twenty feet under with just a flick!_ He shuddered involuntarily.

The ninja walked out of the clearing, but it was a few minutes before Naruto relaxed and leaped out of the tree. The forest was silent. He cocked his head. _That's strange..._ thought Naruto. _But I was always so... loud... _

"Kuso!" He swore, running through seals at lightning speed and sinking into the ground just as Kakashi bore down on the spot he had previously been. He channeled his chakra, shooting him through the dirt until he resurfaced thirty feet away. Kakashi, Jiraiya, Sakura, and his younger self were all staring at him with varying expressions. The easiest to comprehend was his expression.

The younger version of himself was staring at him uncomprehendingly, holding a kunai in an unbalanced stance. He looked apprehensive, but mostly excited at the idea of a fight. Sakura looked puzzled, as if trying to remember where she'd seen him before. Her head was tilted, and she stood with her hand on her shuriken pouch, ready to draw on a second's notice.

Kakashi and Jiraiya's expressions looked pretty much identical. Angry. Sad. Confused. Naruto wasn't surprised. To them, he must seem like a ninja just trying to anger them by Heng-ing or dressing as their respective sensei and student. Before any of them could attack, however, he spoke.

"I don't want to fight. I just need to talk with you." His voice seemed to unnerve Jiraiya and Kakashi even more. They tightened their grip on their kunai. _Hmm. No one ever told me I have a similar voice to my father... _ he thought. _But that's off topic. How am I going to get out of this mess? _

"Just let me explain-" he tried again. But Kakashi interrupted, something Naruto had never heard him do.

"Save it, and explain to us why you are dressed as a dead Hokage, not to mention wandering around in the Land of Fire." Sakura seemed to come out of her trance, and she suddenly looked enlightened.

"The Fourth..." he heard her whisper under her breath in awe. The uncomprehending blonde ninja next to her seemed to understand then. His eyes widened, then turned into a glare almost instantly. Great. Naruto thought sarcastically. _This is exactly the sort of thing that gets me riled up even now, with my emotions repressed. I can only imagine what I'd do when I was his age. _

"How dare you." His counterpart hissed quietly, his eyes hidden beneath shadows from his blonde hair. When he looked up, his eyes were red with black slits down the middle. Sakura took a step back, frightened, but Kakashi and Jiraiya shifted even more into fighting positions - their muscles bunching. They expected him to attack the "Kyuubi Kid," Naruto realized. Almost anyone else, Konoha ninja or not, would do so.

But instead of doing what they thought he would do, he smiled sadly. The older shinobi's eyes widened. "Uzumaki Naruto." The red-eyed blonde across from him nodded. His mind was not yet driven by the Kyuubi's will. Naruto could remember the days when he had only needed three tails to drive him crazy. They were not good times. "Nice to meet you." Jiraiya's eye twitched, but no one said nothing. Then:

"W-who are you?" Sakura asked in a shaky voice. Naruto narrowed his eyes, wondering how to answer. He had two options, really. He pronounce that he was some one else - and therefore get attacked - or he could say his real name... and also get attacked. He gulped, wondering how to solve this one. He had a huge disadvantage in this fight. True, he could probably beat Kakashi and Jiraiya together, but they were fighting to kill, and he most certainly wasn't. He would rather hurt himself than them. This left out most of his jutsus. Choosing to avoid the question, he spoke again.

"I don't want to fight! I don't even want to be here!" Jiraiya snorted at Naruto's words.

"Of course you don't! You're pretending to be someone very close to three of the four people here! One of them a Sannin, one with a Sharingan eye and one with..." he stuttered, avoiding speaking the word 'Demon' or 'Kyuubi' in front of Sakura. "...something. And you're not even doing an adequate job of it!" He finished. Naruto had no doubt Sakura usually would have caught the toad sage's mistake, but she was rather preoccupied at the moment, to say the least.

"I'm not impersonating the Yondaime!" He said, exasperated. "Look! No henge" He gathered a bit of his chakra into his hands, made a hand sign, and said, "Kai!" Nothing happened. Kakashi's eye widened, and he took a step back, but Jiraiya remained in place. If anything, he looked even more determined to take Naruto down. But before Jiraiya could silence him, Kakashi spoke.

"Who are you?" Naruto's shoulders slumped. He couldn't really avoid this now. At least not without hurting three of his precious people. And himself. He grimaced.

"You aren't going to believe me."

"Try me." There was silence for a few seconds as Naruto sized them up. He was half relieved, half annoyed. Why wasn't Jiraiya be this dedicated to his training!

"Fine. My name... is Uzumaki Naruto." Everyone (minus the older Naruto) sweat dropped hugely. Kakashi and Jiraiya looked annoyed, Naruto was snorting, and Sakura was... looking at him with a critical eye. She always was the smartest... He thought nostalgically. "I'm not kidding." Still, no one believed him. He sighed. Then, he created clones. Clones upon clones. A second after he had used the hand sign, they were in a black, red, white and bright yellow room painted with slightly annoyed clones.

The four ninja opposite him's eyes widened. Then, Naruto grinned. A true, slightly evil, eyes-closed Naruto-grin. I haven't done this in ages. His grin became more evil. Then...

"HAREM JUTSU!" All the clones present vanished in a poof of smoke. It dissipated partially, revealing... modified versions of himself. The area around Kakashi and Jiraiya exploded in blood. Naruto raised his eyebrows, hiding his laughter. _Ahhh... I've missed those ero-senseis..._

Sakura was (unsurprisingly) scandalized, and was glaring at him. She opened her mouth - no doubt to give him a lecture - when the younger of the two spoke. Yelled, more like, actually.

"_YOU RIPPED OFF MY JUTSUS!_" This time, it was Naruto's turn to sweat drop.

"I did not rip them off! And you didn't even invent Shadow Clones!"

"Well, I invented the Harem Jutsu!"

"Well, as we are the same person, I did not rip it off! I invented it fair and square!" Sakura had snuck around behind Naruto and was shaking Jiraiya and Kakashi violently. Neither Naruto could blame her. It was minutes before they awoke, in which the time traveler kept his younger self rather busy. He, of course, knew all the right buttons to push.

"-DO NOT! YOU NEED AT LEAST .5 MORE GRAMS OF SALT TO MAKE THE PERFECT RAMEN!"

"Of course you do! It's not perfect until you add the extra salt to give it a more filling flavor, and the aftertaste." The orange ninja blinked.

"How did you know that?" Then, his younger self's expression took an even more enraged turn. "_HE STOLE MY RAMEN SECRETS TOO!_" Everyone present sweat dropped. Then, the sage tried to preserve his dignity.

"That was impressive." The two Narutos snorted, and tossed their heads. Both of them thinking, _Impressive? That was godly!_ The other ninja looked creeped out. "But we still don't believe you. Your story is completely without reliability! First of all, there is no such thing as a time travel jutsu, and secondly, we have no proof those clones were solid. Anyone in Konoha could've told you about Naruto's - erm - jutsu."

"How can I prove it to you?" Jiraiya looked thoughtful.

"We won't be convinced with just one demonstration. First, how did you get here?"

"Seals. Iwa-nin. A fox. Distraction. I rest my case." No one except the sage seemed to understand. Kakashi, having no knowledge of seals, understood what he meant, but doubted time travel was possible, even with seals.

Jiraiya furrowed his brow. Then, he tilted his head up, looking at the 20-year-old ninja with widened eyes.

"The Kokugen Ryokou Seal? But that's untested!" He exclaimed, the red stripes leading from his eyes bunching slightly with wrinkles as his eyes expanded to previously thought impossible sizes. Naruto nodded grimly.

"Until now." Naruto answered. "Do you need more proof?"

"Yes. We want you to-" But Naruto didn't let him finish. He held his hands out, and pushed chakra in. _Spiral. Power. Condense._ The two spheres grew from normal size, becoming almost three feet in diameter each.

"_Double Oodama Rasengan!_" He jumped off the fir tree next to him, keeping the spheres aloft. He leaped off the tree at high speed, and held his hands out in front of him. He drilled straight through at least twelve trees, then the space in front of him exploded. He leaped back, dodging a few pieces of sharp wood that came shooting out of the tree from the explosion.

He Shinshuned back to his previous space. The Shinshun was probably unnecessary, but he had nearly unlimited chakra, and it looked cool. "Is that enough proof, Ero-sennin?" His jutsu, plus the sage's nickname, seemed to be too much for him. Jiraiya fainted dead away, hitting the ground with a "thump!" There was silence. _Well that was anticlimactic..._ Naruto thought. Until his younger self burst out,

"YOU HAVE GOT TO TEACH ME THAT!" The older of the Narutos winced. His Kyuubi-enhanced hearing couldn't take such loud noises, to his friends - the older versions - amusement. They had appreciated the general decrease in noise ever since he had upped his power. Shikamaru and Sakura in particular.

"You'll learn it eventually. Anyways, do you guys need any more confirmation?" Kakashi, being the only adult awake, tried to stutter out an answer.

"Uhh... um... okay - what was the name of our first C-rank's employer's grandson?"

"Inari," Naruto answered immediately. Kakashi didn't look too surprised. There was an awkward silence. For the first time, Kakashi really looked at Naruto. He seemed to take in his resemblance to the Fourth Hokage, and his differences - both in appearance and personality. Naruto knew what he was thinking. '_You look exactly like your father. But you have your mother's eyes facial features, and attitude.'_ It was true, after all. Frankly, Naruto was amazed no one figured out his heritage ages ago.

The Hokage turned his head, looking at Sakura appraisingly. She blushed, and looked at the ground. Naruto was amused. What I wouldn't have done for her to do that five years ago. He smiled, and shook his head, smiling. Sakura-chan was practically his sister at this point. And it did help that he was completely and utterly in love with his wife, Hinata. His eyes swiveled towards his younger self.

The young Kyuubi-container was staring at him open-mouthed. Naruto couldn't blame him. It wasn't every day that you meet your future self, who happens to be the most ultra-awesome, handsome, strongest, coolest Hokage ever! Though, he thought, I don't think any of them have seen the back of my cloak yet. _I would know if Naruto figured out he was going to be Hokage... __he blinked. __It certainly is strange to refer to yourself in the third person. _

While Naruto had been thinking, Kakashi had successfully managed to rouse Jiraiya. The sage seemed confused for a second, then looked at Naruto, and leapt to his feet.

"Naruto?" He said loudly and incredulously.

"Yeah, Ero-sennin?" They answered simultaneously. The turned to each other, matching fox-grins in place. The writer shivered, seeming to foresee the trouble this would cause for the first time.

"Well," he cleared his throat. "I guess we'd better be getting back to Konoha." Naruto nodded, and jumped lithely onto a tree branch above them. Now that his two sensei knew who he was, they seemed doubly impressed by anything he did, no matter how easy. He looked down at them, smiling slightly.

"You coming?" He asked. His younger self grinned, and attempted to duplicate his stunt... only to land rather gracelessly on his back. Sakura jumped onto a much lower branch, while Jiraiya and Kakashi joined him on his branch. Kakashi nodded, and Naruto sped off towards the Leaf, with four extremely confused, impressed, thoughtful, and disbelieving shinobi struggling to keep up behind him.

_**END OF CHAPTER**_

New story here! Anyways, reviews are very much appreciated! I'll try to update soon :)

Thanks,

~Crumpled


	2. Differences

AN: Here's chappie numero dos! enjoy! ;P

Disclaimer: I am a Kishimoto wannabe. Not him... or better yet, a girl version of him. :D

_**Chapter Two: Differences**_

Naruto reached Konoha far before any of the others did, not even out of breath. He had Gai and Lee to thank for that, as he had profusely. He waited on the outside of the forest, not wanting to enter the village. He had no expression, his face the blank slate. It was important that a Hokage keep his personal feelings to himself, never letting them cloud his judgement. He repressed a deranged giggle. _Yeah, like I'm such a good example of non-distraction, Mr. Timetraveler, _he chided himself.

He flicked his eyes up to the mountain, taking in its appearance. It was strange, not seeing his face on it. But he had to admit, it had been rather creepy to see himself, though a hundred times large, every day. He was perched on a treebranch high up in a slightly swaying oak tree, not using chakra to keep himself balanced. He estimated he had about ten minutes left before the other caught up to him, at the speed Naruto (the other him) and Sakura were going. Kakashi and Jiraiya probably would've taken only a minute or two if unhindered, but with two rather green Genin (no matter how much he had denyed it at that age) were extremely slow.

He turned his head, listening for footsteps. They were about three minutes away now. He moved his head back, internally cursing not being able to rotate his ears like he could in fox-form. He waited for a minute or so, then nonchalantly started walking down the tree, finally using his chakra. The birds gripping the branches didn't look too surprised - they did live in a shinobi village, after all - though they sounded ringing alarms any ninja could recognize.

He winced. Letting people know where he was when he wasn't in home territory went against his instinct. He reached the ground, jumping the last ten feet or so. The ground was soft and fertile, and he bounced almost unnoticibly at he hit it. He remained still, facing the forest. He wasn't sure it was a good idea to let his younger self, then-crush, and mentors know he was the sixth Hokage. Still, he could not bring himself to stash it somewhere. He had worked long and hard for that cloak, and he wasn't giving it up just yet. He placed a small genjutsu on it, and the kanji on the back faded into the white of the cloak.

Soon enough, Ero-sennin, Kakashi, Sakura and Naruto (he still wasn't used to calling him that) reached him. Sakura looked at the point of collapsing, Naruto was winded, and even Kakashi and Jiraiya were breathing harder. _Bua-ha-ha-ha-ha! _He laughed to himself. _I surpass them ALL! _

Okay, so he hadn't completely gotten rid of his competitive and emotion-driven personality yet. Small faults.

"Naruto." Jiraiya's tone left no question which one of them he was speaking to. It was even, calculating, and proud. He even heard a bit of respect in it.

"Yes, Ero-sennin?" Naruto said in the same tone. Jiraiya scowled.

"DON'T CALL ME THAT YOU BRAT!" he yelled. Naruto snickered. There went the respect.

"Seriously, though, what?" asked Naruto, nonchalant. The sage still looked ticked, but continued.

"We may... believe you, but you still shouldn't walk through the Leaf Village looking almost identical to our deceased Fourth Hokage." Jiraiya looked ready to rebuke Naruto's outrage - which he seemed sure would come, but the timetraveler nodded.

"I agree. I don't need any more attention attracted to me until this situation is sorted out." Everyone there looked disbelieving and stunned. Even impressed.

"Uhh..." Jiraiya said unhelpfully. "Yeah. Right! So... if you could?" It was quite possibly the most frazzled Naruto had ever seen him.

"Of course, oh holy Jiraiya-sama; Bringer of Light." As Naruto had gotten older, he had mastered the art of a straight face, sarcastic wit, and giving other people sweatdrops. The elder ninja's mouths were agape, unsure whether or not this was a joke. After all, his younger self would die before saying that, even if just for a joke. His younger self, however, had apparently forgotten what Naruto had called him barely a few seconds ago and looked horrified.

"What kind of sick joke is this! Ero-sennin is not a '-sama,' _or _a 'Bringer of Light!' It was Naruto's turn to sweatdrop. He hadn't realized exactly how much of an social imbecile he had been.

The Hokage ignored his younger self's outburst, and transformed in a small puff of smoke. Everyone seemed to half-expect he was using one of his more... ahem... interesting jutsus, and Jiraiya looked highly disappointed when the smoke dispersed, revealing a man of medium heigth and skinny build, with badly cut brown hair, watery blue eyes, and a small scar on his collarbone. His hands were twitchy, and his fingernails were chewed to the back. All in all, it was one of the most unique and realistic henges anyone present had ever seen.

The sage, ignoring his instinct to look around him for this new Naruto, nodded formally, and lead the way out of the trees and into the village. It was about a minute's silent walk until they reached the impressive gates. Genma and Hayate were lounging in the guard chairs, and nearly fell over themselves coming to attention when they saw Jiraiya. The white-haired man straightened his back, and smiled none too modestly, giving them a Gai-esque thumbs up.

It was a quite walk to the Hokage tower, broken only by an elderly man walking up to a rather smug Jiraiya to get his book signed, and a drunken villager's taunts aimed towards the orange-clad ninja, who seemed not even to notice. The henged blond, however, silently sent a bit of killer intent his way, silencing his jeers and sending him scurrying away into an alleyway. This did not go unnoticed by the other adults in the group, who were unsure whether to feel sad that this was needed, or glad that Naruto had helped his younger counterpart.

Naruto let his eyes wander around the village. _Everything is so different... so young... _It was true. Gone were the scars of Orochimaru (well, mostly), Akatsuki, Pein, Madara and Iwa. Everyone looked strangely happy, and seeing them was like being in a distant memory - he remembered their faces, but it seemed surreal that he would be seeing them at all. Most people he saw over the age of 50 had died - either naturally, from war, or from the stress of it.

After the male villager's taunts, both Narutos had taken to jumping off the rooftops instead of walking - the more standard was of traveling for both of them. Most ninja didn't do it because of the smattering of citizen complaints, but the younger Naruto simply didn't care, and the elder was the Hokage. People had practically _requested_ that he jump on their rooftops, to his great incredulity.

Naruto and Naruto reached the Hokage tower before the other three - the product of their method of travel. The orange-clad one didn't hesitate to throw open the doors and stomp in, but the elder quickly grabbed him by the scruff of his jumpsuit and drag him back outside to wait for everyone else. They only had to wait about a minute or so before they say the quickly moving trio approach the tower.

"Come this way, please." This was Kakashi. The words were spoken jerkily, and Naruto, frankly, couldn't blame him. It wasn't every day a ninja shows up looking exactly like your dead sensei, claiming to be the older version of your current student. _Wow. _He thought, slightly impressed despite the situation. _I didn't realize how similar Kakashi and my lives are to a soap opera... and a bad one at that. _

He snickered to himself as they walked up the familiar (though significantly less scarred, via Tsunade) stairs to the Hokage's office. Jiraiya nodded to the secretary, and she waved them through after checking quickly for henges. When she noticed Naruto's, she began to speak at once, but was cut off by the toad sage.

"It's okay - we know he's under henge. He's a friend." She looked sated, but still worried. She chewed her lip; trying to decide whether or not it was protocol to ask him to release it when there was a Sannin there as well. She, apparently, decided not, and continued to wave them in.

"Thank You." Naruto said politely (to the shock of Kakashi, Sakura, Naruto and Jiraiya) as he walked through the double doors leading to Tsunade's office.

"Hey Baa-chan!" The younger blonde ninja said loudly. The elder was rather put out that he couldn't yell her name as well, but eventually decided not to, if only for her sanity. _Plus, _he admitted to himself, _I don't doubt for a second that she would attack me as an imposter. Good ol' Baa-chan... _He smiled nostalgically at the sight of her behind the desk - something he had not seen in some years. The old hag had retired after loosing her left arm in a battle with Orochimaru (which ended up a tie) and given him her spot much to his delight and most of the villager's dismay.

"Tsunade-hime, we have some strange news," an unusually grave Jiraiya began.

...o0O0o...

Tsunade was staring blankly at Jiraiya, an unexpected reaction, considering. She blinked, turning to Kakashi, who nodded. Then to Sakura, who (though she looked uncomfortable at being under such scrutiny of the Hokage - the elder Naruto assumed she was not yet apprenticed to her) shrugged her shoulders, and to Naruto. Naruto, surprisingly, had been mostly silent during Jiraiya's explanation of who the still-henged man was, and as much as he knew about him. Which wasn't much, in actuality.

"So who's idea was this?" she asked. Jiraiya looked confused.

"Huh?" He stated intelligently. Tsunade rolled her eyes, again staying uncharacteristically calm.

"I mean the prank, of course. Wait, don't tell me, it was Naruto and Jiraiya's idea. That, I guess, isn't surprising, but I can't believe they managed to drag you two into it." This last comment was directed towards Kakashi and Sakura. Sakura looked cowed at the rather annoyed gaze of the Godaime, but Kakashi was firm.

"Hokage-sama, this isn't a joke. Really," said Sakura in a small voice. Tsunade just shook her head.

"So you really think I'll believe that a future Naruto, who looks exactly like our Yondaime, turned up with extremely good fighting skills." They all nodded. "And then convinced you of his true identity with two jutsus that, no matter how time-consuming they may have been to learn, _can be learnt_." By this time, Jiraiya was looking rather uncomfortable.

"But... but..." he stuttered, trying to convey his thoughts. "A _Double-Rasengan_!" He said the jutsu's name with a bit of reverence. Sure, he could do it himself, but it was much more amazing seeing it from a point of view other than the performers.

"Which can be learnt, I reiterate." She looked the time traveler up and down, who was still in his henge. "And if this is all true, why are you still in 'henge.'" She said the word henge with sarcasm. She obviously thought that he was some unusually brave villager to play a prank on the Hokage. Realizing that his current form was not helping her believe his story, Naruto immediately put his hands together into a simple handsign, and said,

"Kai!" With a 'poof' of smoke, his appearance returned to his regular one. The Godaime looked rather impressed, while the rest of the adults present looked re-startled at his appearance. Honestly, Naruto didn't blame them.

"I'm impressed." She said, voicing her rather obvious feelings. "I've only met two people other than me who can use layered henges, and release only one." _Kurenai and, before his death, Dan. _Naruto realized. _And, of course, _he thought with a small burst of pride for his wife, _in my time, Hinata and I also. _

"This isn't a henge, Baa-chan." He said. Applying more chakra than necessary to release even his self-invented 'Advanced Henge' technique, he did the same jutsu as before.

"Kai!" His appearance remained unchanged, though a small cupboard in the corner was revealed with multiple bottles of sake hidden inside. Naruto snorted. _That's Baa-chan for you... _The Hokage colored, and lowered her hands below the desk to replace the genjutsu over her alcohol's hiding place. Once it was back up, she stood, and looked at Naruto.

"Hmmm." Her voice was clipped, and serious-sounding. "The Iwa-nins have improved. They even got that dratted name Naruto calls me right." She grumbled to herself a bit, while the rest of the room (namely the two Narutos and Jiraiya) snickered. "But, as I'm not yet completely sure that you're lying, I'll give you one more chance. Give me some proof."

Naruto's mind was whirring. _How can I prove to her that I really am... well, myself? What's one thing only I know about her... the necklace! _His hand jerked for a second to his necklace, then relaxed. _No, no... that won't work. Any good Genjutsu specialist worth his salt could recreate a necklace, and just about everyone knows she has it. Let's see... Dan and Nawaki? _He paused, considering that. _Nah... that's little-known, but it wouldn't have been impossible to dredge up if I was impersonating someone. _

He chewed his lip uncertainly. Then, he reconsidered. _What about Jiraiya? I know loads about him. More than I'd like to, actually. _He nodded to himself, agreeing. _But what will convince them? Everyone knows his books, and many of his jutsu... his books! _

"Ero-sennin," (another wince) "-you wrote a book with my name as a character. It was this character that caused me to be named 'Naruto.'" Every chin in the room dropped to the ground. The younger Naruto's face began to rise in color.

"I WAS NAMED AFTER ONE OF YOUR PERVY BOOK CHARACTERS!" The elder (previously) orange-wearing ninja laughed loudly, joined by Kakashi - who knew now he was telling the truth. Jiraiya and Tsunade were in state of shock, but Sakura was scoffing.

"Yeah, right. Nice story, you imposter!" She said, glaring at him accusingly. She looked like she might've gone further, but Jiraiya halted her - holding out a single hand. Commanding silence.

"It seems..." he said slowly. "That this man here is, indeed, Naruto Uzumaki." Sakura and Naruto blinked, confused.

"Wha-?" Naruto said, scratching his head - unimpressive though it was as said head was barely as tall as Sakura. "Yeah right! I'm way too cool to be the same guy as this lame-o!" The time traveler sweat-dropped. "And plus, I know Ero-sennin is just agreeing that I was named after a pervy book character because he knows it'll annoy me." He nodded matter of factly, arms crossed.

"Though I know it's hard to believe, Ero-sennin actually wrote a non-perverted book once before he started the 'Icha Icha' series." Tsunade said dryly, accessing Jiraiya as if wondering what went wrong. "And it wasn't too bad at all." The toad sage puffed up his chest self importantly, then deflated it quickly when she continued: "Too bad he's only gone downhill from there." Sakura snorted in laughter, though only the two Hokages heard her through her attempts at muffling it.

"And I really am you, kid." Naruto said, smiling in a way that convinced them even further that he was indeed who he'd said he was. The younger of the two narrowed his eyes into barely-visible slits, neck craning back to look him straight in the eye.

"If you really are who you say you are, I only have one more test for you." Naruto grinned rather... well... demonically.

"_Bring it_."

...o0O0o...

Sakura, Jiraiya, Tsunade, and a large crowd besides that looked on in disgust at what the two were doing. Sakura put her hand over her stomach, looking like she might throw up. A few of the village boys were looking on reverently, though most of the girls (save a few) had about the same expression as Sakura. Jiraiya looked shocked (and slightly proud), while Tsunade's eye was twitching reminiscently of Iruka. Iruka, was of course, one of the spectators along with a good number of his class - who had head the goings on from the training field by the Academy and had decided to take an impromptu field trip to see what was happening.

Teuchi and Ayame were looking as if it was their dream come true, and were moving at what must be ninja-speed to match the unmatchable.

"MORE!" Came the simultaneous cries of the the two blonde ninja. (Though the elder was disguised, and looked more Yamanaka-ish, instead of like Naruto.) They glared at each other, sparks practically flying, before stacking their previous bowl and diving into the next like there was no tomorrow. The loud slurping sounds could be heard for blocks - and were only attracting more and more spectators.

Barely seven seconds later, the two cried out again, "MORE!" And so on. The stacks of wooden bowls were being gone through so fast that the Ramen-makers had run out, and had to take them from the gigantic pile of used ones. This, however, was not to be worried about, as several people had taken it upon themselves to keep tally. "MORE!"

Jiraiya shook his head, and turned to the creeped-out Kakashi and the green-faced Sakura.

"This enough proof for you?" He asked sardonically. The pinkette nodded sickly, before covering her mouth and running away - assumably to retch. Kakashi watched them with a sort of horrified fastination.

"How do they _do_ that?" He asked in amazement. Jiraiya shook his head.

"No idea whatsoever. I think it might be something to do with-" he looked around for eavesdroppers, making sure no one was listening. No one was. They were too wrapped up in the goings on at Ichiraku Ramen Stand. "-you know... eating for two?" He finished in an uncharacteristically hushed voice. The last thing he wanted was for the villagers (or other biased people) to figure out the probable reason for his huge appetite. They would probably prevent Naruto(s) from going there any longer.

Kakashi nodded in agreement. "I wondered if that had anything to do with it. It's good to know my ideas are at least slightly backed up." They continued to watch in silence.

"MORE!"

...o0O0o...

"Uuuuggggghhhh..." 13-year-old Uzumaki Naruto, dethroned Ramen Champion, was sitting dejectedly on his butt - cradling an unnaturally large stomach. He scowled to no one in particular, purposely not looking at the only slightly-full time traveler (which he now admitted must be true) before him. "How do you do that?" Naruto asked his elder self in envy. The other occupants of the room snorted over their (singular) bowls of ramen.

"That's rich coming from you, Naruto." Kakashi said as he somehow managed to slurp noodles through his mask. Sakura was looking at her steaming bowl of noodles in a restrained manner, on a diet no doubt.

"You know, Sakura," Naruto said disapprovingly, "a ninja on a diet is just asking for trouble. Eating less gives you less energy, less power, and plus - even if you train - less muscle mass and strength. If you train enough, you should lose weight anyways." She looked torn between yelling at him for giving her advice, and considering it. Kakashi, Jiraiya and Tsunade looked impressed. Naruto saw their looks, and shrugged. "What? It's true!"

They looked away, unsure of how to react to this new, more intelligent Naruto. Seeming to remember her title as Hokage, Tsunade cleared her throat and straightened, sitting higher behind her desk. On impulse, all ninjas over 18 did so, naturally stiffening their muscles and readying for a mission.

"Uzumaki Naruto, until we find a way to get you back to your time, will you agree to stay here and help defend Konoha?" This was more of a political, formal request. Everyone knew his answer.

"Yes, Hokage-sama!" He replied, realizing how strange it was to call someone else Hokage-sama. He'd never really called anybody that before... each of his predecessors had had their own nickname. Danzo's week-long stint as Hokage didn't count in his mind, and neither did Kakashi-sensei's. Neither had their faces up on the monument.

"Good! You will, obviously, need a new name. Do you have any requests?" This barely needed any thought from him. He went by his code name nearly as much as Naruto in other countries.

"Will Katokaze Niiromaru work?" He asked. She raised an eyebrow, apparently surprised by his ready response. "It's one of the several identities I use when I'm in missions out-of-country." He explained quickly. She nodded, accepting his story, and continued.

"Hmm. Interesting name, Niiromaru. 'Red Cutting Wind.' I'd bet my year 189 Kiri-made sake that has a good story behind it. Care to tell?" She was fishing for information, but it was a long story and this was not the time to tell it.

"Another time, perhaps, Hokage-sama?" Naruto requested. "I still have to get a hotel room, and such. Any chance you could loan me money? I can pay it off in missions." The current hokage nodded briskly, adding:

"Only, I would suggest that you rent an apartment for now - if only to stop yourself from accumulating enough debt to actually _get_ me to have to sell my year 189 Kiri sake to someone. We don't know how long it will take to send you back" Naruto laughed, a rather different sound than it was when his younger self did so.

"If you say so, baa-chan." The nickname seemed to relax her, and she settled further into her chair. She gazed at the young man, slightly teary-eyed. _Who knew Naruto would get to be so grown up? _She thought. It seems only yesterday that he was betting that he would learn the Rasengan in only a week... "So. Fork over the cash, grandma." ... And the moment was over.

She sighed, too mentally-exhausted from the extremely strange day to even think of berating him. "Here you go, brat." She said, pulling a wad of ryo notes from a chakra-sealed drawer on her desk. Jiraiya's eyes bulged, obviously wondering how many pairs of high-definition binoculars (or whatever the old sage spent his dough on) he could buy with that. Naruto took it, and - to the surprise of the other room occupants - deftly sealed it into a high-security sealing scroll tied to his pants.

"Seal-master." He said by way of definition. Jiraiya's eyes bulged out even further, this time more from pride. He barely had time to stutter out,

"Wh-wha?" Before the blonde ninja gave a peace sign, a 'bye!' and left the room with a puff of smoke - his eyes in the form of upside down U's. Everyone glared at Kakashi, who was staring at the spot where Naruto had stood a few seconds ago with the look of someone who had just found out someone had stolen their last piece of pocky.

"Hey!" He said, outraged. (He apparently didn't notice the glared directed his way.) "That's my thing! How dare he-" he finally realized the other occupant's looks, and chuckled half-heartedly.

"Heh heh..."

"KAKASSSHHHIIIII!" The enraged voice of the Godaime rang throughout the village, not missed by a smirking Naruto. _Payback. _He thought, leaping off a rooftop and onto the cobbled brick road that surrounded the outer Konoha wall. He slowed his pace now, feeling sorry for the ANBU squad currently following him about 100 yards behind him. He wouldn't want to get them in trouble by losing them, would he? _Well, maybe I would_, he reconsidered with a prankster's grin. However, today he was feeling merciful - and decided to let them do their job.

He was headed towards a small district towards the east of the leaf village - a mostly unpopulated area that had previously been occupied by the Uchiha estate and several other families eradicated during the first Iwa-Konoha War and the Kyuubi attack. He knew exactly where he was going, and after about ten minutes at civilian-speed, he reached his destination. In front of him stood a large and previously-grand apartment building, which (if Naruto remembered correctly) had once belonged to the Oodoki family. It was built in a classic, traditional style - in mostly bamboo instead of the more modern choice of imported wood and concrete. The red roof was curved dramatically with a ridge foot-wide on the top where he had once carved his and Hinata's name within a heart during their fourth month of dating...

He was lost in good memories for a minute or so, and when he emerged from his thoughts he realized he was getting a bit cold. He shivered slightly, and walked into the building. The first thing he noticed was that it was strangely quiet - none of the hustle and bustle of the times he remembered. He walked uncertainly up to the low, dusty desk in the back of the comfortably furnished lobby, and hit the silver bell. For a second, he waited.

He heard them before he saw them. "Get off me, woman!_" _Came the first, in a croaky voice.

"Not a chance, you old coot!" She cackled back. "You answered last time, _and_ the time before that!"

"Well I'm the oldest!"

"Mom always liked me best!"

"Untrue!" Naruto muffled his laughter in the sleeve of his jacket as the two struggling, elderly brother-sister duo came in - complaining all the way. When they saw him (still in henge) they straightened, instantly forgetting their quarrel. The girl, who Naruto knew was named Linn, spoke first.

"Welcome to Kirioni Apartments and Hotel rooms, how may I help you?" She said in a practiced voice.

"Hi, I'm Katokaze Niiromaru, and I'd like to rent an Apartment with a window towards the Monument, please," he requested politely. She smiled widely, showing off several of her missing teeth.

"Excellent!" She replied excitedly. "We have just the room for you. Do you need more than one bedroom? Bathroom...?" She trailed off, looking for any extra requests he might have.

"Uhh- I don't have any extra requirements other than a large window like I said, and a hot shower. Is that possible?" Her brother, Lee, came over now - wanting to be in on the conversation.

"Of course we do, Katokaze-san!" He said enthusiastically. "Now, my name is Kirioni Lee and this is my sister, Kirioni Linn. We own this building, and are two of the three people working here." Naruto nodded, listening; though he kept a sideways view of Linn - who was glaring at her brother, hands-on-hips.

"Lee! I most certainly don't need you of all people to introduce me!" Then she whipped around with an agility she had not previously shown, expression turning sweet. "As my brother here was... kind enough to tell you, I am Kirioni Linn, co-owner of the Kirioni Apartments and restaurant." She smiled, and looked him up and down appraisingly. "It is so nice to have young people in here. We hardly ever get them now a days, do we?" It was, apparently, a hypothetical question - as she didn't give either Naruto or Lee time to respond.

"Thank you, Linn-san; Lee-san; and call me Niiromaru." He replied respectfully, knowing that they would only remain the kind landlords if he was respectful. _I know this from experience_, he thought, shivering as he remembered. "I would be honored to stay in such a beautiful place." Lee smiled at the compliment, and Linn blushed slightly.

"Ohh- it's a bit old and musty..." she said modestly.

"Nonsense! It is not!" Lee corrected, seemingly afraid that Naruto would go away if he was told about their building's non-existent faults. "This building was previously owned by Oodoki family. The Oodoki were a large group; in their prime being the fifth largest clan in Konoha. They were, regrettably, targeted by the Iwa-nins during the war because of their bloodline which was especially harmful to them. Though I believe two or three of them are still alive, they decided not to stay in their clan home." Lee finished the brief history, and though he looked like he could have gone on longer, Naruto cut him off - knowing all too well how long he could ramble once he got started.

"Amazing! So how much is a room as I specified?" He asked. This snapped the two out of their daze.

"That will be..." Linn awkwardly pushed the buttons of their small computer-esque machine on their desk. "... 7000 ryo per month." The timetraveler refrained from letting loose a long whistle. It was ridiculously cheap for what he knew of the quality of the apartments. An apartment like that could go for 12,000 ryo and still be considered a fair deal.

"I'll take it." He said immediately.

"Don't you want to see it first?" Lee asked confusedly.

"No, thank you. I'm busy at the moment so I'll allow you two to pick out one you think I'd like." They looked even further mystified, though Linn was looking more than slightly horrified that he wasn't interested in seeing his new "house" immediately. Naruto saw that this could be a small problem, and said (to ease her nerves) :

"Like I said, I'd like a window. Also, wooden floors would be nice, if you have them, and a balcony if possible." She looked slightly mollified, but then remembered something, and asked,

"Wait! What's your favorite color, Niiromaru-san?" Lee looked at her incredulously, but Naruto guessed (correctly) she wanted to get a color scheme he liked.

"Green, thank you." He replied, exited before she could give herself a heart attack thinking up new insecurities. He chuckled good-naturedly as he left. _I never get tired of those two_, he thought fondly.

...o0O0o...

It was a good five hours before he returned to the building. _And I didn't even get any training in! _Not, however, that he had been slacking off. He would have loved nothing better than to make his way to his favorite (in this time, fully intact) training ground. But he'd had other business to take care of, and he would rather save things he enjoyed for later in the day. Unfortunately, his shopping trip had taken much longer than expected, and the sun had set a while ago when he finally came back and was greeted by two nervous, though enthusiastic, landlords.

"We have your room ready, Katokaze-san." Linn said, opting for the polite approach. "It is room number 316 on the third floor." He nodded, still tired, and followed the uncharacteristically silent siblings up the stairs and to his new home. It took longer than it normally would have with Linn and Lee by his side (they were getting older) but he refused their offers to let him go up alone - and therefore more quickly. Finally, they reached the room of their choice. Lee, grinning, opened the wooden door and let him in.

At first, it was dark. Naruto blinked, trying to get his eyes to adjust. Then Lee flipped the switch, and Naruto gasped. The room was incredible. It, like the main design of the house, was simplistic, made in classic Japanese style. As far as he could tell, there was only three rooms. The main room - which they had entered - was painted a rich, forest green. It seemed included a kitchen area in the far left, a living room, and two doors leading (presumably) to the bedroom and bathroom.

A gigantic window, stretching across the entire village-facing wall of his room, practically depleting the need of other light sources. Even in the dim outside light, the room was comfortable feeling and somehow bright. Naruto walked inside hesitantly, examining the scant furnishings that came with it. A couch, and set of chairs, a table, and so on.

"It's amazing!" He exclaimed, still on his best behavior, though he doubted he would have said anything else anyways. Linn and Lee straightened up, looking proud of themselves. "It's better even than what I had in mind as the best possible outcome!"

"Oh, thank you," Linn said modestly. "It just needed a few little touchups before it was ready for you." He once again marveled his surroundings. For the next five minutes, the two owners showed him around the apartment. They "taught" him how to turn on the oven (it apparently had a few problems), the rice cooker (it was older than they were, and just as obstinate) and all the other various appliances and furniture in the room. It had it's oddities, but he loved it.

With a final, "Thank you," Linn and Lee walked out of what was now his home, and he just stared around for a bit. Shaking himself out of his daze he walked over into the center of the room and moved the sparse furniture away. Double-checking that there was no one around except the ANBU, he released his henge. Then, he pulled out one of the scrolls in his belt, and laid it on the ground. Applying a small bit of chakra, he made three handsigns and pressed his hand onto an inked circle. With a large, "POOF!" three black counter stools appeared.

Not for the first time, he thanked Kami for overly-helpful furniture salesgirls - who had been delighted when he showed up in "Shrikan's Furniture House" without an idea of what he wanted to get, or the color scheme of his future room, other than, "'maybe green?'" He placed them at the small counter by the kitchen, and went back to the scroll.

He then proceeded to unseal a bedside table and lamp, a gigantic bookshelf, a pile of books and jutsu scrolls alike, and various other household items, which included (but was not limited to) a seemingly-excessive amount of pots and pans, a strainer, three small plants, and a single, wooden deck chair. Wiping off his hands, feeling successful, he rolled up the scroll once again and placed it on the bookshelf with several other identical scrolls, and plopped down onto the couch beside him and fell asleep in a matter of seconds.

Outside, two white-masked ANBU agents and one silver haired ex-ANBU looked in on his activities with disbelief. Now that he was asleep, they dared to communicate - unaware that Naruto had tracked their every move since they began to follow him.

"Kakashi-senpai, are you absolutely sure that this is the same person?" Came the whispered voice of Tenzou, oftentimes called Yamato by friends. "I mean, sure he looks generally the same, but could you honestly imagine Naruto having enough... well... brainpower to remember to buy furniture and other things like that? Much less know how to seal them in such a high-occupancy seal? I haven't seen a sealing scroll hold that much since Yondaime-sama!" Kakashi was silent all through Yamato's rant, still eyeing the sleeping blonde.

"I'm not sure. Despite the overwhelming evidence against him, and his rather un-Naruto like habits... I'm tempted to think that this is indeed him." He spoke in a measured voice, giving nothing away. "I see Naruto reflected on some of his actions, not just what he says. Plus, who else do you know that can down forty-seven bowls of ramen without even getting a stomachache?"

Yamato shivered at the memory of the disgusting spectacle, though he had seen it only from a distance as he was stationed on a rooftop during the most boring duty in ANBU: patrol. Ever since the Chuunin Exam Disaster (or CED, as it was beginning to called by the ANBU) the village security had been upped dramatically. Tsunade-sama had been disgusted that Orochimaru had been able to get into the village even with all the additional ninja present due to the exams. It showed Konoha's weaknesses, and it had been a good tactical move to assign one ANBU team to patrol the city per day... but that didn't mean the job wasn't still dreaded by the ANBU themselves.

"Good point." Yamato agreed. "I doubt anyone in all the ninja countries can eat half as much ramen as that kid." Kakashi nodded, and went back to his position of peering interestedly and sadly through the large window at the man crashed almost comically on the couch. _Another thing_. Kakashi thought. _Naruto doesn't even sleep halfway... and neither does he_. This was an apt observation, if not the most astute one. Naruto, at the moment, was snoring loudly; mouth agape with a trickle of drool descending his chin.

It really was incredible how much the man in front of him looked like his old sensei. The same spiky, impossibly blonde hair. The same expressive blue eyes, though the shape was all wrong. Almost the same height. They even had similar smiles. Kakashi's face drooped almost imperceptibly as he thought of the Yondaime. It was hard to believe that he was older than his sensei had been when he'd died. Kakashi let loose a small sigh as he looked in at the snoring man, causing Yamato to look at him worriedly, though he didn't comment. No doubt he guessed what he was thinking about. The silence lasted about five minutes, though it was not uncomfortable. None the less, it was broken by Yamato.

"He really does look like Yondaime-sama, does he not Kakashi-senpai?" The silver-haired (though others would by now claim that it verged on gray) man whipped his head around and starred at him accusingly. Yamato turned away with a small snort. "Well excuuuse me!" He said in an affronted tone. Kakashi sighed, not wanting their conversation to end on a bad note.

"No, sorry. You're right. He does look like Minato-sensei."

"Is that a bad thing?" Yamato asked after a second, speaking hesitantly. Kakashi seemed to think about this.

"No... I don't think it is. It's just _very_ strange." They nodded simultaneously. _It was creepy_. They both decided.

Barely a few minutes later, two mask-wearing ninjas came to relieve them of their post, taking both their place and their discussion on the uncanny resemblance of this stranger and their Yondaime. They didn't know just how close they were to the truth.

**end of chapter**

_A/N: Woot! So, am I doing good? This is a long chapter - almost 7,000 words! My usual chappie length (btw) is about 4,000. _

_On a side note! If you haven't guessed from Kakashi's actions, he does NOT know that Naruto is the Yondaime's son. I think that if he did, he would have been nicer and taught him more when he was a green genin. :D Though (thanks to manga) me know now that he did always know, I'm still mad at him. :( _

_Don't forget to:_

_-Wash your socks _

_-Do the dishes_

_-Call your mom _

_-REVIEW MY STORY! _


	3. Iruka

**A/N: So, here you go; commence chapter three!**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO. Can I make it any more simple than that? **

_**Also, the older (timetraveling) Naruto will now be referenced as 'Niiromaru', or 'Niiro'. In case you don't remember, 'Niiro,' means 'red' in Japanese. **_

_**Chapter Three:**_

Niiromaru woke up the next morning with a feeling of contentment. The sun was shining on his face, the birds were singing, and he could tell just by the smell that the day was going to be sunny and warm. He sighed happily, not even opening his eyes. He just laid on his bed, soaking up his happi- _Wait a second. Bed?_ He wasn't on his bed... he wasn't even on a bed at all!

He leaped out of bed in a flash, kunai (hastily retrieved from a pocket) in hand. Automatically, his chakra flashed outwards in a sensor-wave. There were two people sitting outside his window. He whipped his head around, ready to throw the knife when he realized with a jolt that they were Konoha ANBU agents. _What are ANBU doing outside my window? _He questioned. Then, another more pressing issue came to mind. _And, even more important, where the hell am I?_

His eyes scanned the room as he stood unmoving. The room, he noted with satisfaction, was still as silent as it was when he woke up. Even in a crisis as this seemed to be, he hadn't made a sound. On a similar note, one of the two ANBU outside his window was frantically trying to wake up his sleeping companion. I_ really should find out who that is. He or she isn't allowed to sleep on the job._

The room was familiar-looking, as was the view. He furrowed his brow. But he'd never been here... had he? Niiromaru thought back, thinking of his last memories. _Let's see... the fake-Sasuke's letter, running to Konoha - then what?_ He frowned in concentration. _Then... the smells of ink and paper. Of seals. And then Kyuubi. And then - _

Naruto (or Niiro as he had decided to call himself even in his mind - to avoid slip-ups) felt his memory of the previous day come back with all the speed of a rushing Gai. Needless to say, the revelation that he was in the past swept him off his feet.

He crashed backwards onto the couch wordlessly, dropping the beaten kunai that had been in his hand. _Everything is gone. Can I ever get back? No more being Hokage, being married, no more peace... _for the first time since he'd arrived, Niiro allowed the full meaning of this time-change to wash over him. He was in the past. Sure, there were things he'd simply love to change, but he was only really in a good time period to fix one of them - though it was a big one. Plus, if he did fix it, what would be the consequences? _How many people would die... or not die?_

He sighed. He really did have a lot of thinking to do. Him being here at all had most likely already changed something in his real time._ Is it really bad of me to be unsure of whether or not I even want to change things? Should I?_

Niiro lay on the comfortable couch in turmoil. He bit his lips, chewed his nails - even rubbed his temples. Much to his annoyance, none of them seemed to relieve his stress. Though it was amusing to watch the surveying ANBU trying to figure out what he was thinking about. But that wasn't what he needed to think about right now.

He lay there staring intently at the ceiling as if it would provide some sort of answer for a good thirty minutes before he got up with a sigh. _It's no good trying to figure it out in such a short amount of time. I'll decide later. But for now, I should check up with Tsunade-sama. _He reached reflexively over to the couch where he had been sleeping to retrieve his robe, and grimaced as he remembered the genjutsu hiding the kanji, "Sixth Hokage," on the back.

Again, Niiro sighed. He really did want to take the genjutsu off... that coat was part of his identity! But he couldn't. It was far too much of a give-away. Not only would it alert people to the fact that he was the son of the Yondaime, but that he was Hokage. He would love to see the look on his younger self's face when he learned that he would, in fact, become Hokage someday. Niiro smiled.

He felt around in his coat. Well, for sure he knew that he had a few extra kunai, shuriken, and some explosion tags... Also, he was fairly certain he had sealed some extra leg and arm weights. Those were quite a bit more expensive, but not irreplaceable. He had an extra Katana (sealed, of course), his collection of extra Tri-Kunai with attached tags (he was working on the Yellow Flash technique, though he didn't have it mastered yet) and most likely a few nicknacks. He hadn't added any expensive things or the like as he'd been prepared for an epic battle, not a long mission. The most revealing of the lot was the small collection of Tri-Kunai, which hadn't been seen in Konoha since the Yondaime's time.

_So what now?_ He wondered, looking around the room with baleful eyes. _Could I go on a mission?_ He brightened. _I don't see a problem with it, myself._ A mission sounded wonderful at the present. As Hokage, he only went on about five missions per year; and then only very well-paying ones where his presence was requested. He missed being able to go out of Konoha boundaries and not being constantly worried about some disaster in the city. He winced. A disaster that had happened.

To distract himself from more thoughts of his native time, he began get dressed. He dug through the drawer where he'd put his clothes and retrieved an outfit similar to what he'd normally wear. He preferred his normal get-up, but he hadn't been able to find the same style of shirt he'd worn before.

This new shirt was a white tank top, and of normal length, unlike his normal one which was red and longer than a usual shirt. In the center of his back, there was an emblazoned logo of a dark blue Uzumaki-swirl. However, unlike his symbol at this time, there was a lavender circle in the middle with a midnight diamond inside it. It was his personal symbol as a Hokage.

The swirl representing himself, the lavender and blue for Hinata, as well as a small reference to Tsunade (his mother in all but blood) in form of the diamond. The beginnings of tears pricked up in the corners of his eyes, but he quickly wiped them away.

Once he had successfully gotten dressed and cleaned up (consisting of brushing his teeth, eating, and running his hand through his hair a few times) he headed towards the bookshelf on the wall. Hastily grabbing a blank piece of sealing paper and some chakra-infused ink, he absent-mindedly began to create a combined blood and alert seal with the speed and accuracy that could be achieved only by a seal master such as himself. Outside, the ANBU were gaping. Niiro gave a small smirk.

Before leaving, more out of force of habit than anything else, Niiro applied a small genjutsu over his red ANBU Captain's tattoo on his right arm. 

Then, in a fit of mischievousness, he leaped out of the window, rocketing himself off the heads of the two ANBU outside it - who promptly fell out of the tree, barely managing to land on their feet. Embarrassed and a bit angry, the two masked ninja followed him (barely being able to keep up) towards the Hokage tower.

"Baa-chaaaannnnn!" Niiro yelled, flipping in agilely. "Can I have a mission?" It was only then that Niiro really looked at her. Tsunade looked, for lack of better explanation, drunk. Or at least very, very sleepy. Her face was planted firmly on a small stack of formal looking paperwork in front of her, a tiny droplet of drool seeping out of the corner. Her hair was a mess - bits and pieces fallen out of her normal two pigtails. "Baa-chan," Niiro repeated, annoyed.

_I, of all people, know how annoying paperwork is; but you still can't just _drool_ on it!_ Niiro thought with more righteous indignation thought possible when defending paperwork of all things.

"Wuhhh-" Tsunade groaned, flipping her head the other way, so she was not longer facing Niiro. "Whhud 'ju wan?" Niiro (with all his years of practice decoding Tsunade's drunk-speech) answered, 

"A mission - at least A-rank."

At this, Tsunade finally got up, and stared at him balefully. "A-rank? And why should I give you that? You're still under surveillance, you know." Niiro nodded impatiently.

"Yeah, I know," he replied, "-but I'm a Hok- _ninja_, and my skills are wasted just sitting around here! I could be helping the village!" Niiro barely caught himself before he said 'Hokage,' and gave a small sigh of relief that he'd managed to do so. Tsunade, however, had caught caught his little trip up.

"You're a what?" She asked curiously and suspiciously. "What were you going to say before you said 'ninja'?" Despite himself, Niiro let out a small breath of relief that she hadn't caught exactly what he had said.

"I said that I'm a..." Niiro searched desperately for a way out of this... "-a hokey person!"

"... a hokey person."

"Yep!"

Tsunade looked about as convinced as a fish might when a shark swore that he wouldn't kill him, if he only closed his eyes for a second or two. In plainer terms, she was not fooled in the slightest. However, she seemed to decide that the subject wasn't worth following up on at the moment.

"Fine, you can have a mission. B-rank," she said, plucking a sheet of paper from many of the stacks on her desk. Niiro gaped. It had literally been over two years since he'd done a mission lower than A-rank! He opened his mouth to protest, and then shut it with an audible clack. It wasn't worth fighting over.

"Sure," he replied, a bit sullen. "What is it?"

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Three days later, Niiro returned.

The mission had been simple, easily the most straight-forward thing he'd done in ages. The B-Rank had been a retrieval mission, in the Land of Water. The scroll he'd been sent to retrieve had detailed information from Jiraiya's spy network in the Land of Water, especially the goings-on of the Civil War commencing there. Niiro had completed the mission with zero conflict, doing the tradeoff at the _Wandering Wolf,_ a civilian bar in the Water town of Shinjuku.

Niiro entered the gates of Konoha, signing in at the guard's desk. The Chuunin present looked suspiscious (they'd never heard of a "Niiromaru") but checked him off. The former hokage ambled to the Hokage Tower without ninja speed, and got no strange looks. It was nice. His entire life, Niiromaru had been a standout for at least one reason. Kyuubi container. Student of Hatake Kakashi, and then Jiraiya of the Sannin. Killer of Pein. Hokage. In all honesty, this was the first time he'd been able to just... blend in.

The only thing making him stand out was his hair. Niiro tugged at a loose strand, tucking it behind his forehead protector. There were two people citizens of Konoha (and Iwa, incidentally) connected with bright blonde hair: Uzumaki Naruto, and Namikaze Minato. Naruto couldn't be connected with either. He'd been required to keep a henge up at all times, to prevent his real identity from getting out, but it was getting old! 

Plus, it was chakra taxing to keep up a henge all the time - even for a chakra monster like Niiro, it depleted his stores by a slightly noticeable bit. And Niiro would rather not loose a fight because he'd needed to keep up a henge, thank you very much.

Deciding he would address the issue later, Niiro stepped into the Hokage Tower. Not paying much attention to his surroundings, Niiro stepped up to the mission desk and plopped his neat report onto the table. His mission reports, once messy and fully of exagerration ("and then, I made a Rasengan fifteen feet wide, and Sakura-chan was sooo amazed, and then I killed the bastard, and Sasuke was jealous of my superawesome power, and then Sakura kissed me!") were now honed down to an art.

"Thank you, Niiromaru-san," an extremely familiar voice said from across the counter. Niiro froze and whipped his head over to the man sitting behind the desk. There, looking younger and less scarred than Niiro had seen in years, was Umino Iruka. Niiro stared in amazement and disbelief. In the future, Iruka was still alive, _thank kami._ However, he'd been badly injured protecting his students during Niiro's final battle with Uchiha Madara. Iruka had lost his left arm from the elbow down, and had gained a long scar circling around his collarbone and onto the side of his scull.

And now here he was - brown ponytail, arm, and all. Niiro choked up a little, but managed to say,

"_Iruka-sensei_?" Iruka looked confused. Luckily, he was extremely used to being called, "sensei," so he didn't notice it, but still-

"Excuse me for being so impolite, Niiromaru-san, but do I know you?"

"N-no," Niiro replied softly. Iruka looked confused.

"Are you new to the Konoha forces? Forgive me, but you look quite told to be a Gennin."

"N-no, no..." replied Niiro, then remembering what Tsunade had told him was his backstory. "I've been circulating through ANBU for years. You wouldn't recognize me without my mast on." Iruka blushed a little bit.

"Sorry, Niiromaru-san," he apologized.

"There's nothing to be sorry for, Iruka-san," said Niiro, purposefully adding the correct honorific at the end. Niiro paused, then offered: "Hey, Iruka-san, I was wondering if you wanted to meet me at the Broken Kunai Pub later today?"

Iruka looked confused, then slightly embarrassed. "Uhm... I'm sorry, Niiro-san, but I am not homosexual, so-" Niiro laughed loudly.

"Sorry if I didn't make myself clear, Iruka-san! I just don't have many friends, since I was in ANBU Black Ops so many years... I thought we might be friends," he said. Iruka's face rose in color until it resembled a tomato.

"Yes, Niiro-san!" he said, standing up and bowing a little deeper than was necessary. "And I'm sorry about-"

"No prob, Iruka-san!" Niiro said, scratching the back of his head and grinning hugely. "See you there!"

Niiro disappeared with a puff of smoke. Iruka stood there, staring at the place where he had been. Umino Iruka was confused. First, he'd been just having a normal day. Then and freaking ANBU had looked floored at the sight of him. Then, he'd asked him out! But then it turned out he didn't- though they were still meeting up. And then... Iruka paused in his internal monologue.

Niiro looked a lot like Naruto. Iruka had noticed this the second he'd appeared in the Mission room. An older, more mature Naruto, definitely, but still. For a minute, he'd wondered if they were related somehow. But it was only when he had done that... that thing that Naruto always did (scratching the back of his tilted head and grinning) that he realized how similar they truly were.

If his backstory hadn't been in place, Iruka might of thought Niiromaru _was_ Nar- no. That was impossible! Iruka shook his head at his thoughts, amused at their impossibility.

"Iruka-sensei!" Iruka turned around just in time to see an orange blur zip into his chest.

"_Ooohf!_" exclaimed the Academy teacher as the wind was partially knocked out of him by 110 pounds of hyperactive, preteen boy.

"Iruka-sensei! Iruka-sensei! You'll never guess what happened yesterday!" Naruto yelled loudly, letting go of Iruka's waist and jumping up and down at high velocity. Iruka's eyes followed him. "So I was..." then, Naruto trailed off into quiet.

Iruka pinched himself. Had... had Naruto just... _stopped talking?_ Mid-rant, no less? It was unheard of - no, impossible! Naruto gripped Iruka by his wrist and dragged him up over a rooftop. Iruka kept pace with Naruto easily, though he noted with satisfaction that the Genin was nearly twice as fast as he'd been when in the Academy. Finally, they stopped at the edge of the village, on the nearly deserted road circling the high walls.

"What's all this about, Naruto?" Iruka asked, more than a little impatient.

"I'm not sure if I'm allowed to tell you-" he whispered. His whisper, of course, was only slightly more quiet than a normal person's average volume. "-Baa-chan told me not to-" Iruka narrowed his eyes, and interrupted.

"If Hokage-sama has told you not to share something with anyone, than you need to listen to her, Naruto!" chastised Iruka. "Village secrets aren't something to be laughed at!"

"But Iruka-sensei, it's-"

"Naruto, think about what you're doing for once. Does this secret have to do with a person? No, don't answer out loud, just nod or shake your head." Naruto nodded, indicating that the secret was about a person. "If you tell me this, could this person be in danger?" Naruto paused before shaking his head no. "If someone else heard this, could he or she be in danger?"

Naruto dropped his gaze before nodding slowly.

"Then don't tell me. Next time, Naruto, think these three things through before telling something to anyone. It was smart of you to bring me away from the crowd, though."

Naruto brightened and stood up a little straighter. Iruka suddenly felt bad for shooting down his former student and younger brother figure so severely. He bit his lip... should he apologize? He considered for a few seconds before deciding that no, he shouldn't. This was a lesson Naruto had to learn. He was growing up fast, with Sasuke leaving, the Chuunin Exam fiasco, that insane red-haired Suna kid, and (from what Iruka had heard of the rumor mill lately) no other than Jiraiya of the Sannin! Naruto was growing up, and it was visible.

Iruka smiled sadly, looking at Naruto with a reminiscent gaze. Iruka could only hope that Naruto would manage to turn out as well as his scarily similar ANBU counterpart, Niiromaru.

**End of Chapter**

_Sorry it's been such a long time! I've been majorly busy with school, as well as personal things. However, I'll try to update as much as I can. _

_On another note, I have another account (which I use for Harry Potter and Alex Rider fanfictions) and have several fanfictions you might enjoy if you like those fandoms. My author name is Aquahina. _

_Thanks for reading, and please review!_


End file.
